


(Don't) Stop Running

by BeemurBee



Series: Duel Days at Ouran Academy [1]
Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Host Club shenanigans, Judai is trans, Mild Blood, Multi, Panic Attacks, The Darkness - Freeform, Ultra gay, haruhi and judai are related, heavily based in headcanon, it's not a huge plot point but it's there, judai is a slightly burnt cinnamon roll, season 4, spiritshipping wont happen till a few chapters in, the usual nonsense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-13 20:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13578783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeemurBee/pseuds/BeemurBee
Summary: With three straight years of catastrophes on Duel Academy Island, the school has been shut down pending an investigation. Students have been temporarily transferred to other schools until the investigation is concluded.It was just Judai's luck that his father was forcing him to attendthis school. He didn't know what he'd done in a past life to deserve it.And on top of all that, darkness is stirring once again, and all of humanity stands to suffer for it unless Judai can stop it.Again.But no pressure, right?





	1. We Weren't Expecting This!

**Author's Note:**

> The concept of this story was *heavily* inspired by one of my favorite crossover fics, [Hosting or Dueling](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10198026/1/Hosting-or-Dueling) by [SPskater411](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/974142/SPskater411) on ff.net. The story is a great read if you want a little crossover fun.
> 
> I was inspired, however, by rewatching the GX series to do my own spin on the story and include the undubbed 4th season of GX, so mine is going to be a tad bit darker than theirs.

To say the students were surprised at this turn of events would be a vast understatement. There had been just over a month of relative peace since the missing students had returned from Yubel’s dark world, and Judai himself had finally re-appeared just a few weeks ago. With the new school year starting in just over a week, everyone had been excited to get back to some form of normalcy.

Only that’s not what happened.

The school was shutting down, temporarily, while an investigation was conducted into the dangerous incidents that had occurred over the last three years. This also included the three branch schools, North, West, East, and South Academy, which meant that transferring to one of them was out of the question. There were a few small-time duel school, but none with the prestige or success as Seto Kaiba's, so very few took those options. Most went transferred to schools near their homes, a few had transferred internationally to private academies, and still some others had decided to use this shut down for a _very_ much needed break. It was just some luck that a number of them were being transferred to the most pretentious school in all of Japan.

Ouran Academy, school for the obscenely rich.

As Asuka, Manjoume, Shou, and Kenzan walked beneath the shadow of the cloc ktower and through the doors of the outrageously large building, they couldn’t help but shiver at the feeling of dread that washed over them.

“I suddenly have a bad feeling about this place…” Shou muttered to Kenzan, who grimaced and nodded.

“I feel it too, don,” he said. Then he slumped, bursting into tears and drawing attention from some meandering students. “It's because Judai-aniki won’t be here at all, don!”

“Oy!” Manjoume snapped, shoving Kenzan. “Don't start making a scene, would ya!”

“You’re the one yelling, don! And stop shoving me!”

“Stop being an idiot, then!”

“Don’t call me an idiot, don!”

Asuka and Shou shared glances and sighed, the two fighting boys were starting to draw even more attention and students were starting to whisper. This was going to be a long year, they could already tell.

“Kenzan’s right, though,” Shou said softly, a sad look crossing his face. Asuka frowned, but nodded.

“Yeah, it's gonna be weird without Judai around.”

“What’s gonna be weird without Judai around?”

“You know, this whole school year. He’s important to all of us, so going into this year without him feels-” she paused, suddenly aware that the question hadn't been voiced by any of her companions, and looked to her right, where the question had come from.

“J-Judai!” she yelped. Shou jumped and Manjoume and Kenzan froze in the middle of throttling each other to look.

Judai stood a few feet away from Asuka, dressed in the same purple uniform as them, with his bag held over his shoulder and his other hand shoved into his pocket. Unlike them, however, he seemed constitutionally incapable of wearing the uniform properly; the blazer was hanging open, revealing off his less-than-pressed dress shirt. The collar was unbuttoned, unintentionally showing off his collarbone and gray undershirt, and his tie was hanging out of his pocket instead of around his neck. He looked like a delinquent, but apparently a few girls muttering to each other in a corner liked that.

"He looks like one of those western rebels!" they heard one girl squeal to another.

"Oooh, a real bad-boy type, huh?"

He gave them a puzzled look, but ultimately decided they weren't worth the trouble, so he glanced back to his... classmates. They were all staring at him like he was some kind of ghost.

“What’s with the weird looks?”

Manjoume was the first to react, stabbing an accusatory finger in his direction.

“What the hell are you doing here!?” he shouted, drawing even more attention. Judai raised an eyebrow.

“Same as you, I was transferred here,” he said with a shrug. “Speaking of, class starts in a few minutes. Later.”

The four of them stood frozen as Judai waved and started walking away. They watched him dodge around students and disappear into the crowd.

“I didn’t know Judai-aniki could… well, _afford_ to attend Ouran,” Shou mused, clearly confused.

“Come to think of it, we don’t really know where he comes from, huh, don?” Kanzan added, looking up thoughtfully. Manjoume grunted and crossed his arms.

“Who cares, he’s still an Osiris drop-out.”

“And yet _we’re_ the one’s about to be late to class,” Asuka pointed out, chuckling. She didn’t wait around for the boys to fumble after her and took off after Judai at a light jog. The late bell rang just a moment later.

“W-what! Asuka, wait for us!” the boys yelled in tandem, scrambling to catch up.


	2. Solitude Interrupted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All Judai wanted was a nap. Is that too much to ask for?

Judai had never particularly cared for academia, and that wasn’t going to change now that he was being forced into this pretentious, rich-person school. Like he had done at Duel Academy, his first action here was to find a good spot to hide away from everyone else. The roof of the south building suited him nicely, and this particular spot was just in the shadow of the clock tower, making it a perfect after-class nap spot.

Of course nothing could ever be so easy. It was just his luck that this ‘perfect spot’ was located over the window of a busy room.

“What in the world is going on this late after class?” he mused aloud, leaning back on his hands and sighing.

“Human schools have after school clubs, don’t they?” Yubel asked from beside him, her incorporeal form floating just a few inches above the roof.

“Well sure, but,” he was cut off by the cacophony of girlish squeals and winced, “this is somethin’ else entirely...”

The girls collectively screamed again and Judai sat up straight with a groan. He really hoped this wasn’t some kind of reflection on how the rest of this year was going to go. He pulled up his knees and leaned against them. _All_ he wanted was some peace and quiet, was that too much to ask?

“Oh, who's that?” Yubel asked, ripping Judai out of his mental whining. He looked up to see her leaning over the edge of the roof, looking down at someone. Judai leaned over next to her and hummed.

The person was wearing a surprisingly scruffy outfit, considering the locale, and carrying a paper bag full of what appeared to be groceries. Their short brown hair was messy, and getting messier as they hurried along, and hanging over glass-covered eyes. Something about the figure struck Judai as familiar, but from this high up he couldn’t place it.

“Maybe they’re lost?” he suggested. Yubel shrugged, clearly not all that interested herself. She’d mostly just been looking for something to stop Judai’s mind from wandering too far. He rolled his eyes at her and with a smirk, she faded back into him.

“Oi!” he called down, causing the person to jump and fumble with their bag. The looked back up at him once they caught it and frowned. “You’re not lost, are you?”

The person seemed to bristle a bit at that and they opened their mouth to shout something back at him, but he stood up and they paused.

“Hang on, I’m coming down.”

 

 

It was safe to say Haruhi was a little bit confused. Here she was on her way back from her stupid errands run for the stupid club she’d been forced into helping, and some other student was yelling at her from the roof! Who did the guy think he was, saying stupid stuff like that? Just because she didn’t dress like the pretentious rich folk here didn’t mean she was lost! The _nerve_ of some people!

She had opened her mouth to shout at him, but then he stood up and she swallowed. He was standing precariously on the edge of the roof and her own heart started racing. What was this idiot about to do!?

The last thing she could’ve expected would be him taking a _suicidal leap_ off the roof. She couldn't stop the near shriek of surprise at the move, and her feet started moving on their own, rushing her towards where he would land.

Only he didn’t land, at least not in the way she’d expected him to. In an incredible display of acrobatics, he’d managed to twist himself around mid-fall, grab onto the ledge of a second floor window, and then push himself off with enough force that he landed in a tree almost three meters away. Then, with a simple hop, he landed on the ground before her, safe and sound.

He bent over to dust himself off, bangs hiding his face from sight, while she tried not to collapse on her jellified legs.

“What the hell is wrong with you!” she demanded quite loudly, reaching out to grab his unfastened blazer and shake him. “Do you enjoy giving random strangers heart attacks or something!?”

He blinked and his hair finally fell out of his face. Warm, chocolate-brown eyes stared at her in shocked confusion and she froze.

‘ _I know those eyes!’_

He gently pried her frozen hand off his jacket and frowned.

“Wait a minute,” he muttered, reaching forward. He brushed her own brown hair away and ever so softly lowered the glasses from her eyes. “Haruhi?”

Her mouth opened slightly and she blinked rapidly in surprise.

“J-Judai-niisan?”

 

 

Their walk from the courtyard to Music Room 3 was animated. The two hadn’t seen, or even really spoken to, each other since Judai had left for Duel Academy three years ago. There was the occasional letter, of course, and she got progress reports through her aunt, but the years had seen them grow distant. It wasn’t out of malice, she knew, he had simply been to _busy_. Despite being an unrepentant slacker, Judai had done more work over the last few years than she ever remembered him doing for as long as she'd known him. He hadn’t even been able to stay in contact with his own parents, for the most part.

The last six or so months had been especially hard on their family as he, and half his class, had seemingly disappeared off the face of the Earth. His father, of course, put every resource he could into finding the children and even he was unsuccessful. Hope seemed lost for all of them until the students managed to find their _own_ way back.

Judai hadn’t been with them, however, which only made the loss that much sharper.

She could never describe the relief she felt when his mother called to tell her and her father that Judai had finally returned, alive and well. They had been trying to work on a plan to meet up again, but she never imagined it would happen _here_.

“So you were actually stuck in another _dimension_?”

“Yeah, I know it sounds strange, but that’s what happened.”

“Incredible… I know science has proved that different dimensions _exist_ , but to think that you managed to _travel_ to one? I don’t know what to think, I’m almost envious.”

Judai paused for a moment, and it took Haruhi a few steps to notice. She stopped and turned to look at him. He seemed outwardly fine, but she could tell something she’d said troubled him. Both his hands were fisted tight in his pockets, and his head was lowered to that his bangs shadowed his eyes. But the most telling thing was the minute way his body trembled, as if… _scared_ of something.

“Eh, Judai-niisan?”

The boy jerked a bit and he removed a hand from his pocket to rub at his eyes.

“It’s nothing,” he said, but his voice was low and tired. Haruhi frowned and took a step towards him. He waved her off and caught up to her, instead. “Don’t worry about it, Haruhi. C’mon, your friends are probably waiting for you.”

Haruhi didn't have time to snap that the Host Club certainly  _weren’t_ her friends as she had to quickly scramble to catch up with Judai’s sudden bolt up the stairs and towards the music room. It took her longer than usual, the boy had gotten _fast_ since he’d left.

She met him at the door and, without needing to ask, he took the bag of groceries from her so she could bend over and catch her breath. He chuckled softly as she panted and wiped sweat from her brow, but she could tell he wasn’t being mean about it. It worried her, though, that the laugh was just as empty and tired as his voice had been.

“You good?” he asked, once she managed to stand up straight again.

“Yeah,” she said, straightening her clothes and hair so that it didn’t look like she’d just run up a flight of stairs. “Thanks.”

Haruhi made to grab the bag back, but Judai hesitated for a moment. He’d always had trouble letting her do things for herself when they were younger. He was nearly four years older than her, and he always felt it was his responsibility to look out for her. It was one of the few things about him that really irritated her.

Apparently he remembered how much she hated it, as he just grinned and handed the bag back.

He didn’t hesitate to open the door, though, and Haruhi didn’t stop him. The bewildered look that crossed his face when he was met with a flurry of rose petals upon opening the door was worth the slight sting to her pride.

“Welcome to the Host Club, niisan,” she said with a grin, pushing past him to enter the room and drop off the groceries.

He stood in the doorway for a moment, unnoticed by anyone inside as they were all distracted by the wonder of instant coffee, and his gaping mouth slowly closed, then became a smirk.

“Looks like you’re about to have some adventures of your own, ne, Haruhi?” he said to no one in particular.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a relationship between Haruhi and Judai, and you can probably guess what it is pretty easily. Especially if you've read the story this is based on.
> 
> I'll get more into Judai's family as the story moves on.


	3. Today Begins The Host

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins cause Haruhi more frustration than she needs, and Judai's making her more confused than ever! What in the world is going on here?

“How’d you even get tangled up with these guys, Haruhi?” Judai asked the girl as he walked with her to class the next morning. He was walking at a sedate pace, making her slow down just to talk to him. She sighed, at least there was plenty of time before her next class.

“I, uh. I broke a vase,” she admitted, blushing a bit. Judai raised an eyebrow at her and then put some room between them. “Now I’m in debt for ¥8,000,00…”

Judai smiled lightly as his dear cousin sagged in shame and embarrassment. She swayed a bit as she walked, no doubt mentally bemoaning her fate. He shrugged and laced his fingers behind his head.

“You always were clumsy, Haruhi,” he said with a smirk. She twitched and then shoved her elbow into his side, causing him to gasp and double over.

“Owww! Haruhi, was that really necessary?” he moaned in pain, though the grin on his face betrayed him.

“Yes, it was. Now if you don’t mind, I’d rather not be late for class.” She held her head up and stomped away while Judai laughed at her back.

“Haaaaruhi~” sang her least favorite pair of twins as she entered the classroom. They practically pounced on her and dragged her to sit between them.

“Who was that, Haruhi?” Kaoru asked with a sly smirk.

“Someone we should know?” Hikaru asked with the same smirk.

Haruhi could feel her eyes start twitching and she had to resist the urge to run away. The two boys were unnerving at the _best_ of times, and she’d only just met them yesterday!

“His name is Judai, and no, you shouldn’t know him,” she said, sitting stiffly in her chair.

“Judai?” the twins chorused, fingers on their chins as they thought. “You're right, never heard of him!”

There was a long pause following that as the rest of the students started filtering in. Before much more could be said, their sensei walked in and started class. It wasn’t until halfway through that the twins decided to say anything.

“Hey, do you think the boss would mind if Haruhi had a boyfriend?” Hikaru asked Kaoru none-too-subtly over Haruhi’s head. None of the other students seemed to hear the question, thankfully. Haruhi still grit her teeth.

“Nah, I don’t think he’s even caught on that Haruhi’s a girl, yet,” Kaoru half-whispered back.

“Still, is dating even allowed for us?”

“I dunno, I never asked. Maybe Haruhi should this afternoon, Kyouya will probably want to know she’s dati-” Kaoru didn’t get to finish his sentence as Haruhi, with more subtlety than either of them, slammed her foot down on top of his. The boy opened his mouth to yell, swallowed it, and then dropped his head onto his desk while stomping the injured foot rapidly. Hikaru snorted into his hand and bent over to hide his laughter, though a few eyes still turned to peer at them curiously.

“Will you two shut up!” she hissed at them. She was sitting with her back bowed and the pencil in her hand was one clench of her fist away from breaking in half.

“Fujioka-san!” the teacher yelled and she snapped up straight, nearly straining her spine.

“Y-yes, sensei?”

“I hope I won’t have to keep asking you to pay attention in class,” he told her, his face flat and unimpressed. The students around them started tittering softly behind their hands, amused by the embarrassment of the “commoner”. Her face twitched with suppressed rage, mostly at the twins, and she nodded stiffly at the teacher.

“Thank you, Fujioka-san. Now, as I was saying,” the teacher’s voice faded out and Haruhi took a moment to breath, trying to center herself and let go of the rage.

A difficult task when the causes of her problem were chuckling from either side of her.

She snapped them both a poisonous stare and they froze in terror, swallowing tightly. She then proceeded to ignore them for the rest of the period.

  


“Alright, alright, we’re sorry about the boyfriend thing,” Hikaru apologized, cutting back on the sarcasm as much as he could (which wasn’t much, to be honest, but at least he was apologizing at all) and Kaoru nodded along. They were following Haruhi to the Host Club meeting following a very awkward school day of being completely ignored by the girl.

“What else were we supposed to think?” Kaoru asked. Haruhi twitched again.

“What is it with you guys and romance? Why does every guy and girl have to be in love with each other?” she asked, her voice dripping with annoyance at both them and the idea. Hikaru and Kaoru glanced at each other over her head and shrugged.

“Just seems natural, I guess?” Kaoru ventured, though he didn’t seem sure.

“That’s what Tamaki thinks, anyway,” Hikaru followed.

“Yeah, well that’s stupid,” Haruhi muttered, speeding up to get past the twin menaces.

“Oh? Hey, isn't that your friend?” Hikaru asked curiously, and when she looked up she saw that it _was_ Judai, standing at the end of the hall and chatting with a blue-haired boy who was barely taller than Honey-senpai. The boy was talking animatedly, and seemed a little desperate as Judai looked everywhere but at him and refused to answer any of the boy’s questions.

“How long are you going to avoid us, Judai-aniki?” the boy demanded more than asked. Judai looked distinctly uncomfortable and was looking for any way out of this situation. His eyes met Haruhi’s and for a moment she was struck by the _fear_ she could see inside them.

What could he possibly be afraid of?

“Ah, I’m sorry, Shou,” Judai said haltingly, backing away from the boy. “I-I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.”

“Aniki!” the boy, Shou, yelled after Judai as he tore away and towards Haruhi, Hikaru, and Kaoru. The twins didn’t have much time to react as Judai grabbed Haruhi’s wrist and took off with her, dodging around a corner and out of sight. He backed them into a corner and stood still, breathing heavily in a way she _knew_ wasn’t from the short run.

Shou ran past their hideout, yelling Judai’s name, and it wasn’t until his footsteps vanished completely that the elder boy relaxed enough to release her wrist.

Not that she couldn’t have gotten out of his hold herself, he wasn’t holding very tight at all. But something in the way he was holding her wrist told her he needed it. Maybe as a comfort for whatever was scaring him so much, or as a way to ground himself. So, she didn’t move. And when he finally let her go, she reached out to touch his shoulder, jumping when he flinched at the contact.

Now Haruhi was getting really worried. Judai had always been a tactile guy, he’d never flinched away from her, or anyone else’s, touch.

“Judai…” she began nervously, not moving her hand.

“Ah, sorry, Haruhi,” he murmured. That tight, tired voice was back and it made something in her chest clench. He took a step back, putting distance between them(again, she noticed, he’d done that this morning too). “I didn’t mean to drag you away from your friends…”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said softly. He took another step back and shoved his hands into his pockets, a new nervous tick she was starting to notice. “Do you want to talk-”

“No!” She flinched a bit at the snappish interruption and his face filled with shame. “I-I’m sorry, it’s just…”

“Haruhi!”

Both of them jumped and turned when they heard the twins’ call.

“Where are you, Haruhi!”

Judai sighed.

“You better get back to your friends,” he said, pulling away completely and taking off, away from both the twins and Shou.

“Judai-niisan,” she murmured as he disappeared.

“Haruhi!” She spun around when the twins finally found her and blinked at them. “There you are! What happened?”

She looked back in the direction Judai had taken off and then sighed.

“Nothing. It was a family thing,” she told them, much to their confusion.

"Family?" The looked at each other curiously and then shrugged. 

“Well in that case, we can take off right?” Hikaru said, and the two of them wound their arms through hers.

“Don’t want to be late for your first Host job, do ya?” Kaoru chimed. Together they frog-marched her all the way to the music room, where she was forced to push aside her concern in favor of actually doing her stupid job.

She resolved to have a talk with Judai as soon as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three chapters in one day!? Aren't you guys lucky!
> 
> This one got a little sad, but that's fine. Poor Judai's going through a lot right now, and it's only gonna get worse!


	4. What's Wrong?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to the bottom of Judai-nissan's problems turns out to be harder than Haruhi expected.

Judai wasn’t in class the following day, and the day after that she’d only caught a glimpse of him, getting onto a helicopter from the helipad on the north building in the morning, and no sign of him after. When she did see him, he would quickly find a way to excuse himself from her probing. Normally Haruhi would chalk it up to his slacking, but with the way he’d been behaving she couldn’t help but be worried. She’d called his mother last night to see if she knew what was wrong with Judai, to no avail. Apparently he’d been avoiding his mother, as well. She debated calling Judai’s father, but the man was always so busy that she doubted she’d even get through. Now, after this whole affair with Ayanokoji-hime, she was stressed beyond her usual limit. Her worry was starting to affect her school work, this had to stop.

Following a useless study session, she decided to seek out the other Duel Academy students. Whatever was bothering Judai had something to do with them, and if she couldn’t get her answers from him, they were the next best source.

“Excuse me, Shou-senpai?” Haruhi asked when she found the older boy in the north building refectory. He was sitting with two other boys, probably the other transfer students, and jumped when she approached. They had been deep in conversation about something.

“Oh! Uh, yes?” the short boy said, jumping out of the chair to bow, and again she was struck by how short he was(barely taller than Honey-senpai, it was even more apparent this close). The pale boy across the table scoffed and rolled his eyes to the third, darker-skinned boy who just grinned. “Sorry, yes. H-how can I help, uh…”

“O-oh!” Haruhi bowed back. “Sorry, Haruhi Fujioka, first-year student.”

“Fujioka-san,” Shou replied with a smile. “How can I help you?”

Haruhi paused for a moment, suddenly unsure of herself. If these people knew Judai, and knew why he was being so weird, would they even want to disclose that to her? Would they be as weird as him?

“Fujioka-san?”

“Ah!” She jumped and then blushed. “Sorry, yes. I had a question for you. Do… you’re friends with Judai-niisan, right?”

Just his name seemed to cause them all to deflate. Even the pale boy, who seemed more angry than anything, looked depressed. She frowned at them.

“Yeah, we’re friends,” Shou said, though he seemed depressed about it. “Or, we _were_. I’m… not so sure anymore.”

“Judai-aniki has been avoiding us recently, don…” the dark one said morosely, laying his head on the table.

“So he’s been acting weird for you guys too?” Haruhi mused aloud. She sighed and crossed his arms. “Dammit. He’s got me all worried over this and he… seems afraid to even mention whatever's wrong. I was hoping you guys might know why.”

The pale boy frowned at her and then stood up.

“Hold on, did you say Judai- _niisan_?” he asked, somehow both bewildered and annoyed. Haruhi jerked and stared at him.

“W-well yeah, he’s my cousin after all.”

All three of them seemed to lose balance for a moment at the revelation. Shou even came close to face-planting on the tile, though luckily Haruhi had been there to catch him. She raised an eyebrow at the unusual reaction. Why were boys so weird?

“Well…” the dark-skinned student stood up and Haruhi was thrown off by his bulk. He bent down to look her in the eyes, his own army green ones narrowed in concentration. “Now that you mention it, you do look a lot alike, don.”

Haruhi huffed and took a step back.

“Please don’t crowd me like that,” she said and he chuckled. He rubbed the back of his head with a grin.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said. He leaned back on the table and made a small wave. “I’m Tyranno Kenzan, by the way. You already know Shou’s name, and that,” he pointed over his shoulder at the pale boy whose head was still lying on the table, “is Manjoume Jun. Don’t mind him, don.”

“I can introduce myself, dammit!” Manjoume snarled, snapping his head up to glare and Kenzan, who just laughed in response and dodged away from Manjoume’s flailing hand.

Shou sighed from beside her.

“I’m sorry about them, Fujioka-san. And I’m sorry we can’t help, but Judai-aniki won’t talk to any of us, either.”

Haruhi rubbed her eyes, annoyance creeping up in the form of a migraine. She wasn’t upset with the boys in front of her, but this whole situation had been grating on her nerves for the last few days.

“Whatever’s bothering him has something to do with what happened in that other dimension,” she muttered to herself. All three of the boys flinched at the mention of the dark world and shared a tense glance. “He wont talk about it, and whenever I ask he closes off from me and ends up running away.”

Haruhi glanced up at them, her face shadowed and serious. All three of them froze. There was a moment where she debated trying to force the information out of them, but something told her that they were upset about it themselves. So, with a sigh, she nodded.

“Thanks anyway, senpai,” she said softly.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t be more help…”

Haruhi shook her head. “It’s fine, I’ll fix this somehow. Good afternoon.”

The boys gave their own subdued goodbyes and watched her leave.

“Who knew Judai-aniki had a cousin, don…” Kenzan said, trailing off in thought. Shou sat back down and went back to picking at his food.

“He’s never really talked about his family, has he?”

Manjoume groaned and leaned back in his chair, letting his head fall back so he was staring at the ceiling. “After everything that’s happened, we’re still in the dark, huh?”

“Give him time.”

All three heads turned to look at Asuka, who sat her tray of food down on the table next to Manjoume. He nodded at her, but didn’t feel up to his usual attempts at flirting with the ex-obelisk. She looked past them at the back of the girl just as she exited the door.

“We don’t know what happened after…” she trailed off and all of them shivered. “And then with Johan, and Yubel… he’s going through some bad stuff, give him some time.”

“Yeah…” Kenzan looked over at Shou. The smaller bow’s hair was shading his eyes and Kenzan could tell he was blaming himself again. He nudged the boy with his elbow, causing him to sway a bit in his chair. He shot Kenzan and glare from under his bangs, but it quickly faded into a grateful smile.

“Thing’s will work out, you’ll see, don.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping to get the actual Host Club involved in the next chapter. It'll probably be during the whole physical exam debacle.


	5. Something Wicked This Way Comes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of course, _of course_ Judai couldn't have one normal year. What was he even thinking?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place at about the same time as the last

“Yuki-kun!” 

Judai paused in his meandering when his name was called from the opposite end of the hall. He turned his head to see one of the Student Affairs administrators jogging towards him, waving frantically for his attention. He turned fully to face the man and waited patiently once he finally caught up to catch his breath.

“Ah, Yuki-kun,” the guy said again once his panting had evened out to a more manageable rate. “I’m sorry, but you’re being pulled out of classes today.”

Judai frowned. Aside from skipping his afternoon class two days ago, he hadn’t done anything to warrant punishment. The man must’ve recognized the confusion on his face and started placatingly waving his hands.

“You’re not in trouble, Yuki-kun, I’m sorry,” he told Judai, but the boy didn’t relax. “We’ve received a call from Industrial Illusions just now. A representative has requested to meet with you immediately.”

“A representative?”

“A man named Saiou, he said you would know him?” Judai’s eyes widened in shock and then narrowed. Suddenly the man was worried. Had he made a mistake? His job could be on the line if he upset this student too much, he knew, and by the look on Yuki-kun’s face, that was gonna happen sooner rather than later.

“A-ah! I’m sorry, Yuki-kun, for the mix up-” Judai held up his hand and shook his head, forcing the man to stop.

“There’s no mix up, Administrator,” Judai assured, looking suddenly weary. “I apologize, I was just startled. Did Saiou say where to meet?”

The administrator nodded. 

“Yes, he’s sent a helicopter for you. It should arrive on the north building helipad in just a few minutes.” Judai chuckled and rubbed his eyes.

“That man doesn’t wait around, does he?” he muttered, eyebrow twitching. Of course Saiou wouldn’t leave him any time. The helipad was on the other side of campus, that was a ten minute walk at best. “Thank you, Administrator.”

He bowed once and then took off, the only way he would make it in a reasonable amount of time was if he ran. It was lucky he had the foresight to find all the shortcuts in this obscenely large campus, he’d only had to dodge around a few students to reach the north building. He sprinted up four flights of stairs and skidded to a stop on the roof just as the helicopter descended.

Judai slumped and tried to catch his breath as the Boeing began landing procedures, and tried not to think too much about whatever reason Saiou had come.

“Yuki-san,” a suited man spoke once the vehicle as down. The blades still spun, ready to take off at a moments notice which told Judai this was going to be a long day. He looked at the man who gestured to the opening door. “Saiou-sama will see you inside.”

“Where will we be goin?” Judai asked. The man shook his head.

“Saiou-sama will explain everything, sir.”

“Right…” Judai sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off the migraine he knew was coming, and followed the man onto the helicopter.

“Ah! Judai-kun, how prompt!” Saiou said with a smile when he saw Judai approach.

“Saiou,” Judai nodded in greeting. Then he saw the man sitting beside Saiou and blinked. “Kagemaru-jiisan.”

Kagemaru smiled, wrinkles creasing around his eyes. He seemed far older than Judai remembered, which he hadn’t thought possible considering how old the man had looked the last time they met.

“We’re sorry to contact you out of the blue like this, Judai-kun,” Kagemaru said, his smiling becoming sad. Saiou offered a seat to Judai, who took it with a nod, and then sat back down himself.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why,” Kagemaru continued. Judai leaned back in his seat and resisted making any sarcastic comments. The two of them seemed very nervous about something. Something that would no doubt cause a lot of problems for the boy.

The helicopter jerked as it took off and Judai’s nerves increased.

“Where are we going, jiisan?” he asked Kagemaru accusingly. The old man looked apologetic, but not particularly guilty.

“I’m sorry, Judai-kun, but we didn’t want to risk anyone else hearing this,” he told the boy. “We’re headed for Duel Academy Island.”

Judai straightened up, his entire body tensed and ready to bolt, and stared at the two of them, partly in confusion, but mostly in aprehension. Saiou and Kagemaru both looked like they didn’t want to tell Judai what they were about to. They knew about as much of what happened in the dark world as anyone else did, that is to say they knew nothing, but they could tell whatever had happened had left Judai with an unimaginable burden. They were loath to make it worse, not after all he’d done for them, but they didn’t have a choice.

“Judai-kun, we need to ask a favor of you,” Kagemaru said. Judai narrowed his eyes and frowned. He crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair, and crossed his right leg over his left, looking from head to toe like someone who would literally rather be anywhere else.

“I think I’ve done my share of favors, jiisan,” he said, his voice flat. Kagemaru and Saiou shared glances. They had expected him to decline, but unfortunately for him, he had as much a choice as they did. “I’m done with all of this, if you need help find someone else.”

“Judai-kun… I understand that you feel guilty for all that’s happened,” Kagemaru said, causing Judai to frown and look away. “You feel responsible, that you’re the cause of everything.”

Judai’s head dipped, his hair falling over his eyes and shading them from view. They flashed to gold as his anger started to rise. His indignation at the, admittedly accurate, character analysis threw his repressed feelings into overdrive. He’d spent the last few weeks since returning trying not to think about everything he’d done, and now they were throwing it back in his face. His fingers clenched, wrinkling the sleeves of his Ouran blazer.

“That’s not true, Judai-kun.”

Judai jerked, gold eyes snapping to Kagemaru’s. The old man didn’t seem too surprised at the sight of them, or perhaps just didn’t think it important to address currently.

“There was a notice. A premonition,” Saiou spoke up, drawing Judai’s attention. Gold eye’s shifted to glance at purple, and Saiou did flinch. Barely, but Judai caught it. He looked away again and brought a hand up to cover his eyes. Neither Saiou not Kagemaru brought attention to it again.

Judai didn’t look back at them, even when Saiou began explaining about the card that found him. He emphasised the warning, something big was coming to Duel Academy, something that would threaten the whole world. And once again, much to Judai’s displeasure, he was the only one who could stop it.

Kagemaru explained that everything that had happened on the island over the last three years,  his quest for the sacred beasts and immortality, Saiou’s corrruption by the Light of Destruction, and Judai’s unleashing of Darkness, had awoken something far more ancient, and far more dangerous.

“You’ve felt it too, haven’t you?” Kagemaru asked. Judai, stiff and defensive, couldn’t deny it. He’d felt it as soon as he’d reappeared on the island all those weeks ago. The Darkness seeping into every crevice, foreign Darkness that didn’t belong. He felt it deep in his bones, in his soul, and he knew, or had known, it was his fault. He’d spent those two weeks on the island debating the merits of leaving, as he was convinced his presence was only making things worse, but the problem had been solved by outside forces. The student body had been evacuated for their own protection as Kaiba Corp. and Industrial Illusions tried to get to the source of the catastrophes.

He’d felt the darkness ease once he’d left, that was true, but even now he could feel it pulsating. He felt it at Ouran, too.

He scowled, grit his teeth, and glared out the window.

“A great evil is about to erupt, Judai-kun.” Judai could hear imploring despair enter Saiou’s voice. The man had lost all his powers, all connection to anything that could help. He was useless in fighting whatever was coming, as was Kagemaru. Judai… he really was the only one in a position to fight.

Judai reached down to his pocket, to reassure himself that his deck was still present. He felt a wave of comfort from it as his monsters all tried to ease the rising fear. It barely alleviated the fear, but he was grateful nevertheless. 

The helicopter jerked again, and Judai realized they were landing. He hadn’t noticed how long this conversation took, and the sight of the academy in the distance made him both nostalgic and wary. The landing process didn’t take long, and when he stood up to exit the plane, a man stood ready with a duel disk for him.

“What’s going on?” he asked the man, taking the offered object and securing it to his wrist. He looked back at the helicopter, Saiou and Kagemaru were both standing at the top of the exit ramp. Both had concerned frowns on their faces.

“It’s a precaution, sir. People have been disappearing after duels, your father demanded you be ready should you face one.”

Judai sighed and loaded his deck.

“Nothing can ever be simple, can it?” he asked himself, drawing a snort from the man. “What’s your name?”

“Hoshino Chideha, sir.”

“Right. Okay, Chideha, lead the way.” Chideha nodded, waved off the helicopter, and started leading Judai towards the most recent disturbance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Without students on the island, the events of season 4 are gonna have to change a little. Also at this point it's probably not difficult to guess who Judai's father is.
> 
> For the record, officially GX takes place ten years after DM, but for the sake of my own purposes I'm increasing that time jump to 15 years.


	6. Why Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judai's stressing out, and has been for so long. Haruhi hopes that being around the insanity of the Hosts might help distract him from whatever's burdening him.

Mitsukuni didn’t really mean to pry into other people’s business, but the boy he was following looked so upset that he just couldn’t help it! He’d accidentally come across Yuki-san when he’d heard yelling in an abandoned classroom. Peeking through the door wasn’t really dignified, but what he saw upset him too much for it to bother him.

The tall boy, the brunette transfer student in his class who looked remarkably similar to Haru-chan, was yelling something angrily into a phone. He couldn’t quite make out the words, what with the boy’s back turned to the door, but he sounded desperate over whatever it was. He was shaking, apparently in rage, but when he turned around Honey gasped, caught off guard by the _fear_ splashed across his face.

“Goddammit!” the boy shouted finally, snapping the phone shut and smacking a table. Honey jumped with a squeak and managed to hide just in time to avoid being seen by the tall boy. The door slammed open a moment later and the boy stalked out, his steps heavy with anger. Honey watched as his stomps slowed into a sad shuffle. He hung his head, and his shoulders hunched, and Honey couldn’t help but feel sad for the boy. He watched him disappear around the corner and, after a moment, scurried after him.

He gasped when he he turned the corner and saw nothing. The boy had vanished!

 

“Yuki-san?” Honey spoke, poking the boy once he found him a few hours later. Judai was lying on the wall of one of the schools many ponds, his arm thrown over his eyes, and his whole body tense, despite the air of nonchalance he gave off. His blazer was off and bunched up under his head, leaving his rumpled dress shirt exposed. He looked so tired, Honey mused.

“Hm? Haninozuka?” Judai lifted his arm and looked to his right, where Honey was standing with a huge smile. “Ah… yes?”

“I can’t find Usa-chan, will you help me?” Judai could practically see the flowers spring up around the beaming boy. He sat up slightly, completely baffled, and stared.

“Usa...chan?”

“Mhmm! My grandma made it for me before she died, but I seem to have lost it. You gotta help me!”

“Uh, I don’t think-” he didn’t get to finish as Honey grabbed his arm with a surprisingly strong grip, and started dragging him along. He stumbled after the significantly shorter boy, unable to pull his arm free with his usual strength.

“C’mon, I think I saw Usa-chan this way!”

“W-wait, Haninozuka!”

 

When Haruhi walked into the club room, the last thing she expected to see was Judai being fawned over by a bunch of girls while Honey-senpai sat in his lap and kept him from bolting.

“Uh, what’s… going on?” she asked Kyouya when the girls started squealing over something Honey-senpai said. She tried not to laugh at how uncomfortable her cousin looked.

“Honey-senpai’s found a stray,” Kyouya told her. “The girls seem to like him, but Mori-senpai…”

Haruhi followed his gaze to see Mori huddled in a corner, much in the same way Tamaki did when he was upset. Her lips twitched and she had to cover her mouth to muffle the giggle that wanted to escape.

“I’m not sure if we have room to add another host, however,” Kyouya continued, writing something down in his book. “He seems popular enough, so who knows.”

“I’m not sure he’ll want to become a host,” Haruhi muttered, watching as Judai sagged in his seat. “But it would be amusing.”

“Hm? What makes you say that, Haruhi?” Kyouya asked, pausing in his writing to glance at her curiously. Haruhi blinked, and then smirked.

“Oh? You don’t know?” she asked, smirking at the way he tensed up. His attention was fully on her, now, and she felt slightly empowered by the imbalance in power. “Well…”

Kyouya subtly leaned towards her, waiting, but she snorted. With a shrug, she turned towards Judai and started walking.

“If you don’t know, _I’m_ not gonna tell you.”

She grinned at the sound of Kyouya’s pen snapping in half.

“Haruhi!” Judai called, catching sight of her through the gaggle of girls. The look on his face begged her to save him, and she laughed. The girls around him turned to look at her, and some of them smiled.

“Haruhi-san!” one of them greeted, jumping up. “Have you met the new host, yet?”

“H-host!?” Judai stuttered, face beet-red. “I-I’m not, I mean-”

“I have,” Haruhi cut him off, far too amused by his embarrassment. “How are you enjoying the host life, Judai-niisan?”

The girls all gasped and their heads snapped between her and Judai, suddenly realizing how similar they looked.

“More brothers?” one of the girls asked in shock and, annoyingly, attraction.

“Incredible! They really do look so similar!”

“I didn’t know Haruhi-kun had a brother!”

“We’re cousins, actually,” Haruhi said, smiling gently at them and causing most of them to blush. “But it’s so nice to see you all excited. You’re all so pretty when you’re enthusiastic like this.”

The squeal that followed was deafening, but so worth the lost look on Judai’s face.

“Honey-senpai, do you mind if I sit with Judai-niisan for now?” she asked the older boy, who blinked up at her curiously. “It’s just… I think Mori-senpai is missing you.”

A dozen heads collectively turned to look at the moping third-year and Honey jumped off Judai’s lap with a cry of shame.

“Takeshiiiii!” he cried, attaching himself to his cousin. “I’m so sorry, Takeshi! I didn’t mean to abandon you, please forgive me! Please don’t be mad!”

“Mitsukuni…” Mori muttered, looking at the limpet of a boy. He wrapped his arms around the boy and held him close. “I could never be mad at you.”

The girls surrounded them squealed again and abandoned Judai and Haruhi for the two third-years. Haruhi watched in amusement as the now pale Judai bent over and dropped his head into his hands.

“I don’t get how you can do this every day,” he muttered, confounded and slightly terrified. Thankfully, Haruhi noted, the fear was superficial. She chuckled and sat down next to him.

“It’s not that hard, being fawned over by girls is actually kind of fun,” she said. He snorted.

“For _you_ , maybe…” he trailed off, and she smiled softly. The poor boy had never understood the whole romance thing, or hadn’t cared enough to try. Though things may have changed since he’d gone to Duel Academy.

“You’ve never been attracted to someone?”

Judai jerked and looked away, face quickly heating up again. He didn’t need to say anything, but Haruhi could tell anyway.

“Oooh? What’s their name?”

“D-don’t worry about it,” he stuttered. She smiled at him and nudged him.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s just nice to see you relaxing a little.”

“I don’t know if I would call this _relaxing_ …”

Haruhi shrugged and leaned against him. He shifted a bit and brought his arm up to lay it across the back of the couch.

“I am glad you’re here, though, niisan,” she continued. She looked across the room to see the other hosts deep in conversation with their clients. Suddenly, she had an idea. “I hope you’ll stick around. It’s kinda weird being stuck with all these weird boys all the time.”

Judai twitched and she knew she struck a nerve. Specifically that protective nerve he tried so hard to repress.

“It would be nice to have someone I really know around, just to make things normal…”

Judai tensed, rubbed his eyes, and then groaned and she knew she had him. He didn’t need to say anything, she knew he’d stick around now.

“You know I could just pay off that stupid debt for you, right?” he asked, but she knew he never would. He hated throwing money around, and she hated anyone doing things for her. It was a last ditch effort to get out of it that they both knew would never work.

“Oh my gosh, you two are so sweet!” Sakurazuka-hime spoke from behind, startling the both of them.

“Haruhi the sweetheart, and the shy rebel! Such a cute pair!” cried Kurakano-hime from beside her. Judai stared at them before practically deflating onto Haruhi, much to her amusement. She pat him gently on the head as he resigned himself to his fate. The girls _awe’d_ at the sight

Tamaki would have to make the final approval, but judging by the way he was staring at them(mouth slightly agape, but still grinning) that wouldn’t be much of a problem.

Besides, he was as easily manipulated as Judai could be.

“Heheh, welcome to the Host Club, niisan!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't _intend_ to make Judai a host, it just... kinda happened. This fic is mostly unplanned tbh


	7. It's Love, Guys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A weekend romp at the mall makes everyone more stressed than they wanted it to. Everyone's getting worried now, so what's the solution?

“A… host club?”

Asuka sighed. Shou had seen Judai at the host club dance just last night, dancing awkwardly with a few girls. The only guys allowed to attend the dance were the hosts, which was why Shou was initially confused about his presence. Until he realized that, for a short period of time, Judai was the only one there which meant he _had_ to be a host. He shared this with the other three when they met for lunch at BonMal.

“That makes no sense, don,” Kenzan said. His face was screwed up in confusion at the mere _idea_ of Judai being a host. “He doesn’t know the first thing about girls! ...does he?”

“Of course he doesn’t, he didn’t even know what a fiancee was,” Shou reminded them. Kenzan had been told about the who fiancee thing ages before, but this was the first Manjoume had heard of it.

“He doesn’t know what a fiancee is!? God, he really is an idiot, isn’t he?” Manjoume whinged, smacking himself in the forhead.

“I don’t think it was that,” Asuka said. They turned to look at her. “You know Judai’s never actually _needed_ a reason to duel. At least, he didn’t back then. I think he was more baffled at the idea of being _my_ finacee…”

“Eh? What do you mean?” Shou asked, clearly confused while Manjoume started shouting obscenities and the absent Judai for daring to try becoming Asuka’s fiancee. Asuka sighed and shrugged.

“I can’t really place my finger on it, to be honest. It’s just what it seemed to be.”

“Asuka-chan!” Fubuki sang as he twirled towards their table with a tray of food. “Are you guys talking about Judai-kun again?”

He handed out drinks and food before taking a seat next to his sister. She gave him a smile, but it was a worried one. Fubuki hadn't joined them at Ouran, even though he still had to finish his last year. He'd said something about a calling, and now Asuka only saw him when they were at home together. Not that that was very often, the older boy had been suffering from some intense migraines recently and had holed himself up in his room more often than not. The fact that he had been in a chipper enough mood to come out with them today had surprised and delighted her, but she couldn't help the worry that still filled her.

“He’s a host now, apparently,” she told him, ignoring the worry for now, and grabbing a pack of fries for herself. Fubuki paused, his own fries halfway to his mouth, as the concept bounced around inside his head.

“Judai-kun… is a _host_?”

“That’s what _we_ said, Manjoume said, put out that no one was paying attention to his pain. He shoved the straw of his drink into his mouth and grumbled. “First he starts avoiding us, and now he’s joined up with some weird host club.”

“Aaaw, are you afraid he left you for better friends?” Fubuki said, mock pouting at the dark-haired boy, who growled back.

“Of course I’m not! Why should I care what that idiot does in his free time!” Manjoume snapped back, blushing at the insinuation that he could _ever_ miss that slacker. It’s not like they’d all been through hell and back or anything. It’s not like he had actually grown to cared for the other boy, or respect him. “Why should it bother me that he’d rather spend time with _other_ people!”

“But it does,” Shou piped up sadly, fiddling with his fries. Because all of them felt that way. The things they had experienced in the dark world… the things they’d done, the things _Judai_ had done… apparently their bond wasn’t as fixed as they’d all hoped. After waiting so long for him to reappear, that month of mourning where they were almost convinced he _had_ sacrificed himself...

“After everything we went through in the dark world… it _does_ feel like he’s abandoning us. Again.”

“He’s not, y’now.”

All five of them turned around to see the same boy who had seeked them out last week. He was dressed in a simple blue top and jeans, and his hair was being held out of his face with pins.

“Oh? Do you know Judai-kun, miss?” Fubuki asked curiously. The other three boys jolted and gaped. _Miss_!?

“You’re a girl!?” the three of them yelped, pointing at the unimpressed girl.

“You mean you guys didn’t know?” Asuka said, frowning. Fubuki simply laughed and Haruhi sighed. She ignored the weird looks the three boys were giving her now and nodded at Fubuki.

“Yeah, he’s my cousin. Normally I wouldn’t barge in like this, but I couldn’t help but overhear,” she told them. “And I really think you’ve got this all wrong.”

The boys and Asuka all frowned at her, not quite sure what she meant. She sighed again at the looks and planted her hands on her hips.

“The only reason Judai-niisan joined the Host Club was because I asked him to.”

“That seems like an odd request, don,” Kenzan said, scratching his head and trying to work out how it must’ve happened. Nothing he was thinking of made any sense, so he turned to Shou who just looked as confused as he felt. Haruhi could feel her cheeks heat up a bit.

“I got myself tangled up with them when I broke a stupid vase. Now I have to pretend to be a host until I can pay of the debt,” she muttered, avoiding all of their eyes as she admitted it.

There was at least a minute of silence following the confession before, with a barely restrained sputter, Manjoume and Kenzan started laughing hysterically. Haruhi and Asuka both shot venomous glares at them, but they didn’t notice.

“Will you stop it!” Asuka snapped, barely restraining the urge to smack them, which only cause _Fubuki_ to start laughing. Giving up on them, she gave Haruhi an apologetic look. The girl look exasperated, but not overly annoyed.

“I don’t know what happened to you guys, and I’m not sure I want to,” she started saying. The three boys stopped laughing as soon as she mentioned it and looked away. “But whatever it was, it’s still affecting Judai-niisan. I asked him to join the Host Club because I thought it would help him smile again…”

“Fujioka-san,” Shou muttered. “What do you mean?”

Haruhi’s shoulders sagged a bit. Talking about other people was something she absolutely _hated_ doing. Rumors got started this way, people’s lives could be ruined this way, and it was just an overall rude thing to do. But Judai _wasn’t_ healing. If anything, he seemed to be getting worse. When he stayed at her house, he almost never slept. And when he did sleep, he suffered from terrible nightmares that he refused to talk to them about.

Plus that stupid phone of his was ringing off the hook, leaving him in an even worse mood every time.

“I’m just saying that Judai-niisan’s got a lot on his plate right now. I don’t think he’s abandoned you, I just think he’s a little lost right now.” The group of transfer students(plus one brother) shared looks of guilt, they knew Judai was dealing with a lot, and still they assumed the worst from him. Maybe that’s why he was avoiding them.

“I do know one thing, though,” Haruhi continued in a subdued voice. “He feels guilty about something. Guilty enough that it keeps him up at night.”

All five of them jerked, as if suddenly struck, in realization. Haruhi pretended not to notice the shame in Asuka’s eyes, the way Shou and Kenzan looked close to tears again, the way Manjoume was glaring at the table, or the way Fubuki looked ready to do something crazy.

“But... can I ask you guys one... off topic question?”

“Y-yeah, sure,” Shou said softly, wiping at his eyes.

“This is gonna sound really weird, but did… was Judai-niisan _with_ anyone? Y’know, at Duel Academy?”

The way all the boys gave her confused looks told her know, but Asuka seemed deep in thought over it.

“I didn’t think he knew what romance was, don,” Kenzan muttered, scratching his cheek. For once, though, no one really wanted to rib on the boy’s old habits.

“Well… there was, y'know,” Asuka trailed off, drawing their attention. Shou and Fubuki both blinked, but then their eyes lit up. Kenzan and Manjoume simply looked confused.

“Y'know?” Manjoume asked.

“It makes sense, now,” she said. And it did, now that Haruhi had brought it up. They had all assumed that Judai was just romantically inept. He had met every girl who expressed feelings with indifference or ignorance, and even the whole fiancee thing had them thinking he was just an idiot about love but… thinking back on the dark world, on losing Johan and everything Judai was willing to give up just to get that one person back.

Shou and Fubuki had both came to the same realization as her.

Judai may not have been _with_ anyone, as far as they knew, but he _loved_ someone. How had they all been so blind!?

“Hello!” Manjoume snapped. He and Kenzan waved their hands in front of their faces to get their attention. “Guys!”

“Love makes people do crazy things, ne, Jun? Kenzan?” Fubuki asked, for once actually looking series.

“Che!” Manjoume crossed his arms. “What are you talking about?”

“Judai-aniki,” Shou said, eyes wide as almost every single weird thing Judai had ever done finally made sense. “Judai-aniki was in love with Johan, wasn’t he?”

“Johan?” Haruhi asked, startling all of them. They had forgotten she was there…

“Love, don?” Kenzan asked. He thought back to that time and gaped as he finally got it. “That’s why… all that happened, don? Cause he lost Johan?”

“What do you mean, lost?” Haruhi asked, frowning. Was that why Judai-niisan was so depressed? Had he loved this Johan person, only to lose them?

“Johan’s fine, he went back to Norway,” Manjoume said. Asuka nodded, but still frowned.

“Yeah, but that was before Judai came back,” she said. “He never got to see Johan after… everything.”

“So then…” Manjoume muttered, brows furrowed in thought.

“Did Johan even know?" Fubuki asked.

“So that’s it…” Haruhi said, once again shocking them. She chuckled a little, not offended that they kept zoning out. “I asked him about it the day he joined the host club, but he got kind of flustered and changed the subject.”

“Well…” Asuka glanced from Haruhi to the boys. “Who knows, maybe you’re right. Maybe this Host Club _is_ what he needs.”

She looked at Fubuki and laughed.

“Maybe I should stop by. I’ll become a client, and I’ll try to keep an eye on him.”

Haruhi blinked. She would do that? Asuka didn’t strike her as the kind of girl who appreciated the kind of false romantic acts the club was famous for, but that she would attend just to check up on Judai? Haruhi smiled. It was nice to see he had people that truly cared about him.

“I think he’d really appreciate that, Tenjoin-senpai,” Haruhi told her, bowing in thanks. Asuka smiled back.

“Thank you for telling us this, Haruhi. And please, call me Asuka. I think we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, soon.”

“Absolutely, Asuka-senpai!”

The boys then took rounds giving her their names again, all more than happy to speak with her and thankful for her clearing up the fog they’d been wading through in regards to Judai. They finally invited her to sit with them, and they regaled each other with silly stories about the boy that connected them. By the time Haruhi had to leave, it felt like she’d known them all for ages.

 

“Did you get everything you needed?” Judai asked when she met him by the BonMal entrance. He seemed so much older outside of his uniform, and so much more tired in the way he carried himself. She felt a pang of sorrow at the bruise she could see peeking out from under his wide collared t-shirt.

“Yeah, I did,” she said, giving him a bright smile. He snorted and smiled back, though it was strained. Any smile from him, though, was a smile she was starting to appreciate more and more the less they occured.

“How’s your shoulder?” she asked as he took one of her bags and they started walking towards home. He rolled the shoulder in question, the one the bruise was on, and winced.

“It’s fine, just a little sore. This internship with Kaiba Corp takes more out of me than I thought, y’know?”

“What do they even have you doing, niisan?” she asked, probing not so subtly. He shrugged.

“Nothing dangerous,” a lie, she knew, he’d been telling them more often. “Just a lot more physical labour than I expected.”

Haruhi hummed, but kept glancing at him in worry. He didn’t seem to notice, his gaze was fixed on where they were headed.

“Does your father know you’ve been injured? I’m sure he’d make them take it easy on you, if you asked.” Judai seemed to flinch when she mentioned his father, which only made her worry more. He and his father weren’t the closest of people, but she knew the man always looked out for Judai. Or at least tried to.

“He doesn’t need to worry himself over this,” Judai told her. He was frowning now. “And neither do you. C’mon, it’s getting dark.”

Haruhi bit her lip, knowing the talk was over now but still wanting to ask more. She didn’t push her luck, however. She didn’t want him to go running off again like he had the last two times she’d confronted him. So she let it drop for now and picked up the pace, matching his as they hurried home.

Hopefully something would change soon. She wasn’t sure Judai would be able to handle too much more.


	8. Beware the Physical Exam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Physical Exams are coming up, but Judai's got other things to worry about.

Judai wasn’t _quite_ sure how he’d gotten himself into this mess. Or rather, glancing down at the yukata he’d been forced into, he wondered how to best get _out_ of this mess. Tamaki had agreed to allow Judai to become a host, despite Judai’s desperate attempts to get away even after he’d agreed with Haruhi. The blond king had made a huge scene of it, calling himself “daddy” and gushing about having Haruhi’s “precious cousin” to help protect her. He didn’t seem to realize that _he_ was one of the things Judai was prepared to protect her from.

Or if he did, it didn’t seem to bother him.

“Judai-kun?” one of the guests who had requested him asked, and he glanced at her. She was staring up at him in aw, somehow enamoured by the sight of him in his black and gold yukata. He suppressed a shiver. “Don’t you think this sakura viewing is beautiful?”

He looked up at the trees, and a gust of wind blew, sending petals dancing around him. He saw the way the girl swooned at the sight, but couldn’t help but feel like there were more important things to deal with than petty high school girls. Still, he had a part to play.

“They really are, aren’t they? But they don’t really compare…,” Judai trailed of wistfully, glancing pointedly in her direction, but thinking of someone else entirely. She sighed and clasped her hands in front of her chest, blushing madly. He gagged inside at the foul taste it left in his mouth.

“There’s something about the sakura blossom,” he continued softly, catching one in his hand. He gently reached out to the girl and took her hand her hand in his and with the other, slipped the blossom into her hair. “They make such attractive decorations.”

The girl froze and Judai could tell her heart was pounding into overdrive. Only one thing left to do, then.

Gently trailing his hand down the side of her face, he slipped on the smallest smile.

The girl seemed to explode on front of him, squealing like he had confessed his undying love, and then running off to brag about it to her friends. He waited until she was out of sight to drop the mask. The smile slid into a frown too naturally and he stood up, dusting himself off, and went to find Haruhi. No doubt the twins or Tamaki, or all three, were getting on her case about something stupid again.

Sure enough, when he found the girl, Tamaki was there, in Haruhi’s face, wining about shady twins. The Hitachiin twins themselves were taking mild offense and protesting on the side. Judai debated rescuing Haruhi, but the girl looked more bored than irritated, so he just calmly walked up to the group and stood next to Kyouya.

“Judai-kun,” Kyouya greeted, writing away in his little book while Tamaki started yelling some more nonsense. “Aren’t you going to go rescue your dear cousin?”

“If she needs my help, she’ll let me know,” he said, folding his arms into the sleeves of his yukata. Kyouya hummed.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something, Judai-kun,” the shadow king continued, pausing in his writing to look at Judai. Judai didn’t move, but he did glance up at the taller boy curiously.

“Before you joined us, Haruhi mentioned you might not want to. I wonder why that was.”

“Oh, is that all?” Judai asked, leaning back on his heels. He gave Kyouya a smirk, and the younger boy suddenly felt very apprehensive. “The answer is simple, really.”

Honey and Mori both joined them by then, and they were watching Tamaki fuss over Haruhi, demanding she “change back into a girl” with amused grins. They turned to look at Judai when he stopped talking, curious as well about what he was going to say.

The boy yawned, stretched, but before he could say anything, the Hitachiin twins piped up with something about physical exams, distracting them all.

“Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about those,” Kyouya said, the glare on his glasses hiding his eyes from sight..

All of the guys turned to stare at Haruhi, who looked contemplative.

“So then… that means there’s no doubt,” she said, holding up a finger. “They’re definitely gonna find out that I’m a girl.”

The original members of the host club jerked back in horror, the twins crying out, while Judai grinned sardonically and shuffled up to drape himself over Haruhi, much to her surprise.

“I hate this so much,” he muttered into her ear so the others couldn’t hear, and she laughed.

  


“Does he always do this?” Judai asked aloud the next day as he watched Tamaki live through some invisible fantasy.

The excitement from the last day was mostly over, but the club was closed currently while the club tried to deal with this new situation.

Well, half of them were. Tamaki seemed to excited at the idea of Haruhi being revealed, while she and Judai just didn’t care either way. But watching their “king” have his fantasy had to be one of the most uncomfortable things Judai had seen in a long time.

“He must be having a great day dream,” Honey said.

“He’s kinda creeping me out,” Hikaru followed, both of them staring at Tamaki too.

Tamaki shot up out of his chair and pointed at the twin.

“Envious, Hikaru? This is all part of my strategy!”

“ _Strategy_ ,” Judai scoffed quietly. 

“While you’ve wasted time blinded by your jealousy, I’ve forseen the outcome of the charade!” Tamaki continued, unaware of Judai’s mocking. He threw his arms out and smiled. He almost glowed with how please he was with himself.

“This is obviously a romantic school comedy! Haruhi and I are the main characters, so that makes us love interests.”

“Yeah, then what are we?” the twins asked in tandem. Tamaki spun around dramatically, pointing at the group as a whole. Judai took a few huge steps away, not wanting to be included in whatever nonsense Tamaki was on this time.

“You boys are the homosexual supporting cast!” he declared. Judai looked off into the distance bemusedly.

“Oh thank god, being a main character was getting exhausting,” he muttered while Tamaki pulled out a stick and drew a line between himself and the other boys.

The room filled with palpable tension before them as all of the boys started glaring at Tamaki, who was still in his own fantasy world.

“Hey, listen boss,” Hikaru said, leaning forward.

“I don’t think you get it,” Kaoru continued, leaning back.

“If word gets out that Haru-chan is really a girl, then she won’t be able to be in the host club anymore!” Honey finished, clutching Usa-chan tightly. Tamaki seemed to turn to stone right in front of them.

“What a tragedy,” Judai murmured.

“But I bet if Haru-chan dressed as a girl, she’d be even cuter than she is now!” the diminutive boy cheered, sounding quite pleased with the idea. Judai yawned from a distance and watched them curiously.

“She dressed like a girl before, right?” Hikaru wondered. “She must’ve been pretty popular with the boys.”

“Yeah, my investigative reports tell me someone would declare their undying love for her at least once a month,” Kyouya explained, much to Judai’s immediate irritation. He shot a glare at the glasses-wearing boy, who just blinked back. What kind of investigation was that? There people had no consideration for privacy, did they?

“If that were the case, the boss wouldn’t even be able to get close to her,” Kaoru said, causing their frozen king to twitch.

“But we could spend all the time we want with her, since we’re in the same class,” Hikaru said, mischief coating his voice. Judai sighed at the way Tamaki twitched again, but couldn’t help the way he wanted to automatically jump to his cousin’s defense. To be honest, he’d rather keep her away from this entire group of weirdos. Unfortunately, he could already tell she was growing fond of them.

“This boy is so easily manipulated,” Yubel said from behind him. It was only through sheer willpower that Judai didn’t jump in surprise. Even after almost two months, she could still startle him like this…

 _Please stop doing that_ , he thought at her, causing the spirit to chuckle in amusement. _What are you doing here, anyway, I thought this stuff didn’t interest you?_

“It doesn’t,” Yubel told him with a shrug. “But seeing you get all flustered over your cousin is just too cute.”

 _S-shut up!_ Judai flushed and whipped his head away from the chortling demon.

“Sorry I’m late!” Haruhi called as she ran into the room, stealing Judai’s attention from his soul roommate. Yubel hummed and faded away once more, but he could feel her conscious at the back of his mind, watching on in amusement.

“Don’t you worry, Haruhi!” Tamaki cried, closing in on her faster than Judai thought possible. The boy grabbed Haruhi by the shoulders and pushing his face way too close to hers. Only Mori, immediately grabbing Judai by the shoulder, kept his temper from exploding at the sight.

“Thanks, Mori,” Judai sighed, rubbing his eyes. He didn’t know what was wrong with him lately, his temper was getting out of control.

“Take a minute,” Mori suggested, steering him towards the door that Haruhi and Tamaki had vacated.

“We’ll make sure Tamaki doesn’t do anything weird, Ju-chan,” Honey promised with a sparkling smile. Judai would’ve smiled back, but he just didn’t have the energy, so he just waved and walked out.

“Where’s Judai-kun going?” Kyouya asked them, watching the boy slowly disappear down the hall.

“Ju-chan’s just having a bad day,” Honey told him, staring at the door sadly. He looked up at Mori, who just nodded back.

“I think Ju-chan’s going through some stuff right now… sometimes he just needs some space.”

Kyouya sighed, slightly put out by the idea of an unreliable host like Judai, but couldn’t fault the boy. Everyone knew about his internship with Kaiba Corp, and even people who weren’t around him as much as the club could tell it was wearing on him.

Add that to the trauma from whatever he’d experienced when he and his class disappeared for six months… Kyouya often wondered, and envied, how he could function as well as he did.

“I guess we can’t expect his help with Tamaki’s silly plan, then?” he mused aloud, writing something down in his book. Honey and Mori shrugged.  


 

“Judai-kun is tired, isn’t he?”

The vision below showed the boy, swaying a bit as he walked. He reached a bench in one of the school’s gardens and slumped down, dropping his head in his hands and trying to ignore the way they shook.

“It’s good for us. The more tired he is, the more easily he’ll be eliminated.”

They watched a cat, the cat, jump onto the bench and curl up beside Judai.

“But he has friends. Old and new, they could cause… problems.”

“The new ones are not duelists, they’re of no concern. And he’s pushed the others away. The boy is truly alone, now.”

“Maybe not.”

The vision shifted through a number of people, including the friends he’d supposedly pushed away. The girl cousin, the ghost of his sensei, a powerful looking dark-skinned boy, a tall man with brown hair, a boy with teal. More and more flew by.

“Enough.”

The vision disappeared.

“With or without these people, Judai-kun will fall before us. Then, nothing will be in our way.”

  


“What kind of physical exam is this,” Judai muttered to himself as he was lead through the line-up of doctors and nurses, towards the special boys clinic.

Even Duel Academy, a school nearly as elite as Ouran, didn’t have physical exams like this. Their exams had always been scheduled separately and, more importantly, private. Ouran, however, seemed to use the exams as a way to show off their youthful students. It was kind of disgusting, he thought.

“Right this way, Yuki-san. The physician will be with you in a moment.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

The woman bowed and then dropped the curtain. Judai sat in one of the available seats and waited. He didn’t normally ask his father for things, even the monthly allowance the man gave him hadn’t been his idea, but this was something he needed done. Thankfully, his father was understanding enough to agree to arrange this private exam.

“Yuki-san? My name is Kotone, and I’ll be your physician today. I’ve been apprised of your situation and sworn to secrecy.” She didn’t need to tell him that, he was already aware, but strangely enough it did put him at ease. “Go ahead and undress for me, please.

It was in the process of undressing that Judai heard the commotion. It started with Haruhi’s voice in the stall across from his.

“Probably Kyouya’s idea,” he muttered to himself while he shrugged off his dress shirt and yanked off his tank top. He was reaching for the binder when he heard the shout next door, _Haruhi’s_ shout!

“Judai!” Yubel whispered in his ear, and he didn’t hesitate to run out. Haruhi was in trouble! He saw the man holding her, his hand over her mouth and suddenly his raged reached its boiling point. He dashed across the hall, grabbed the man’s shoulder, and bodily threw him away from Haruhi.

“Judai-niisan!”

Judai didn’t seem to hear her as he grabbed the terrified man by his shirt and lifted him, one handed, off the floor. Teeth bared, he snarled at the man.

“What the _fuck_ do you think you’re doing, bastard!” His fist clenched the man’s shirt tighter, choking him, and the man flailed. He grabbed Judai’s wrist and tried to struggle free, but Judai’s grip didn’t weaken.

“P-please,” the man choked out, tears starting to fill his eyes as he stared into Judai’s. Something in them terrified the man, and he struggled harder.

“JUDAI” Haruhi screamed, wrapping her arms around him from behind and desperately trying to pull him back. “Please, Judai-niisan, you’re killing him!”

Judai’s head turned slowly and he locked eyes with Haruhi, who froze and then jerked back in fear. The boy’s eyes widened and his grip slackened in shock at the sight of Haruhi’s fear… of _him_.

The man’s butt hit the ground with a thud and he backpedaled away from Judai. He didn’t notice that, though. All he could see was Haruhi’s fear, the way those eyes widened and trembled, at the sight of _him_.

He took a step back, his hand slapped over his mouth to muffle the wimpers that wanted to escape, and he bent over. His hair veiled his eyes and he shook, shamed and afraid. Oh god, not again. He’d hurt someone _again_. He couldn’t stop, could he? Everywhere he went, it was impossible avoid. Even his own family wasn’t safe!

His vision filled with fire, smoke and the smell of burning flesh clouded his senses, and he could see all of them. All of his friends, up on that ledge, and suddenly Haruhi was there, screaming along with them. How did it come to this, how could he let this happen!?

He had to get away, he couldn't-he couldn't breathe. He couldn't think, he could only see. He had to get out, he had to get  _out._

“J-Judai-niisan?” Haurhi asked, taking a step towards her cousin and reaching out. Judai flinched away violently and she gasped. His gold eyes were wide, unseeing of anything around him, and filled with tears. He stumbled away from both her and the man still shaking on the ground.

“Judai-niisan!” she called again, grabbing his arm. He stiffened. “Judai-niisan, please look at me!”

Judai shook and tried to tug away, but was suddenly too weaked do do even that much. And even if he had that strength, he would never use it on Haruhi. She pulled him forward and he stumbled and fell, his knees smacking against the floor hard. He doubled over, wrapping his arms around himself, and whined pitifully.

Haruhi didn’t hesitate in wrapping her arms around him. It made him uncomfortable, being touched like this, but she could tell he needed it. Whatever had happened to cause this, whatever he was still suffering from, had pushed him away from everyone. It made him shun contact, as though he didn’t deserve it, but she wouldn’t let it go on. She wouldn’t run from him, she wouldn’t leave him alone.

Those eyes, the ones that had looked at her with such coldness, those were his eyes. But they were wrong. It scared her to see him fall like this, but despite the fear she promised she would never leave him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Judai whimpered into her shoulder, reluctantly taking the comfort.

The man, long since forgotten, crawled away from the psychotic boy and out of the stall, only to be found by a more boys. The blond at the front frowned at him, but didn’t attack him like the last boy, so he sighed. Perhaps these boys would help him.

Kyouya stood by the open curtain and looked inside. He saw the bruises forming on the man’s neck and he knew who had caused them. But looking inside, at the poor broken boy, shaking in the arms of their secret princess, he couldn’t bring himself to be too upset. The man had, after all, caused a serious security issue. He noted the binder on the boy with a curious frown, but left it alone. He looked back at the group, where Tamaki was now crying over the man’s life story, and silently slid the curtain shut. It wasn’t any of his business, after all.

“Kyouya! We have to help this man find his daughter!”

Kyouya sighed, but then smiled softly. He had to do everything around here, didn’t he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got a little darker than I intended, but I'm pleased so far. We'll see how it goes from here.


	9. What Are You Thinking!?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not easy getting over your fears. It's even harder when those fears are being repressed and ignored. After a breakdown, getting back up is the hardest thing to do.
> 
> But it _must_ be done.

Judai didn’t come to school the next day. When questioned by the club, Haruhi explained that he was just ill and resting. Kyouya knew the truth, and he cornered Haruhi about it a few days later, when Judai still hadn’t shown up. Much to her surprise, he actually seemed concerned for the boy.

He quickly explained that the only thing he was concerned about was the status of the club, as they were now down a host.

“Ah, of course,” she muttered, unimpressed. “He’ll be back soon, so no worries.”

“That’s good to hear. Is he staying with you, then?” Kyouya asked, pen scratching inside his notebook. She shook her head and shifted in her pink, floral kimono.

“No. Wait, why do you care if he stays with me?”

She gave him a suspicious glare, and he smirked.

“No reason. By the way, another customer has requested you. Keep this up and you’ll pay your debt off by the time you graduate,” he told her. The smile he gave her was calculated and she looked away. “Although, the rental fee on that kimono is another story entirely.”

“You’re cold, Kyouya,” she told him, much to his amusement.

With a sigh, she turned back to her guests and resumed playing her part. This was gonna be a weird few days, she could already tell.

  


“Judai,” Yubel murmured from above the prone boy. She poked his side, but her finger went right through him. With a sigh, she turned to Daitokuji, who was perched on the boy’s desk. The ghost shrugged.

The boy had barely moved in the few days since Haruhi had dropped him off. His mother had promptly bundled the boy up and pressed him into bed. She mothered him for the first day, but left eventually, when the boy didn’t react. He just layed there, gazing at the wall through half-lidded eyes. She gave up after a few hours and left.

He shifted in bed and rolled onto his back to stare at the ceiling. Pharaoh mewled at him from the ground and he grunted when the fat cat jumped onto his stomach. The cat turned a few times before settling on his chest. He shoved his nose under Judai’s chin, causing the boy to flinch from the cold wetness.

“Jeez, Pharaoh,” he muttered, speaking for the first time since his breakdown. Yubel and Daitokuji both jumped at the sound.

“Judai… are you,” Yubel hesitated, not quite sure what she wanted to ask.

“Are you feeling any better?” she finally settled on. Judai glanced up at her and she frowned. He had dark circles under his eyes from not sleeping. He reached towards the window and gently tugged aside the blinds, wincing at the bright sunlight that came through. With a sigh, he forced himself to sit up and caught Pharaoh when the cat rolled down to his lap with an indignant yowl.

“I don’t know,” he told Yubel, looking lost. Yubel frowned and pulled her legs up to float, sitting cross-legged beside the bed.

“Do you… want to talk about it?” she asked. Judai looked down at the cat settling in his lap. His arms were loosely wrapped around him, and his thumb was softly rubbing back and forth over soft fur. His nose twitched, even now he could still faintly catch the smell of fire. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw them burning. Everytime he tried to sleep, he remembered their screams.

He clenched his eyes closed and rubbed at them as the vision assaulted him once more. It was the same, but different every time. Sometimes Haruhi was burning, sometimes Ranka, his parents, even members of the club joined his friends. Sometimes _he_ was burning.

He whined and pressed his palm to his eyes. Yubel reached out, but couldn’t touch him.

“Am I dangerous?” he finally asked. Both Yubel and Daitokuji shared worried glances.

Neither of them got a chance to respond as the shrill beeping of his cellphone’s ringtone rang out. The item’s screen flashed with the name of the only person who ever called it. Judai stared at it, face blank, and reached for it.

“Judai, you don’t have to answer that,” Yubel said, stepping between him and the phone. Her face was tense with worry, the boy was in no condition to do what this call would have him do. He needed to heal, and he couldn’t do that if he was running off to fight every other day.

“Yes I do, Yubel,” he said, reaching through her for the phone. She shuddered, but knew she couldn’t stop him.

“Judai-kun, please,” Daitokuji pleaded from the desk. “You’re not well, you need to rest.”

“I can’t rest, Daitokuji-sense. I have a responsibility.” He didn’t give either of them another second to protest; sliding open the phone, he pressed it to his ear.

“Yeah?” Yubel and Daitokuji couldn’t hear what was being said, but by the way Judai’s eyes widened, they knew it wasn’t good.

“Are you positive? ...yes, I understand. I’ll be there soon.” He snapped the phone closed and threw his covers - and Pharaoh, much to his displeasure - off, jumping out of bed and running to his closet to get changed. He dialed another number while he frantically threw clothes around.

“It’s me. I’m coming in, I need a chopper ready for immediate take-off.” He yanked a brown bomber jacket off his chair and threw it on. It had been a gift from his uncle when he'd returned home, and, subconsciously, he needed the comfort.  “Ten minutes.”

He slid the phone closed, threw open his bedroom door, and took off down the stairs.

“I can’t believe he would do something so goddamn _stupid!_ ” he shouted as he ran, much to Yubel’s shock. She flew after him, worried and curious. “He’s gonna get himself _killed_!”

“Who is?” she asked, keeping close.

“Who else?” Judai snapped, his anger at this situation boiling over and turning his eyes gold. He reached the front door and threw it open. “Goddamn fucking _Fubuki-!”_

“Fubuki?” came a voice that did _not_ belong to Yubel. He stumbled on his front step and stared in shock at the group of people gathered in front of his house. He momentarily wondered how they even knew where he lived, but shoved aside the thought for the more immediate concern.

“A-Asuka!” Judai gaped, heart thudding in surprise at the sight of the group. “Guys!”

“What did you say about Fubuki?” she demanded, stomping up to him. The boys behind her looked confused and wary. They all seemed a shocked at Judai’s appearance.

The boy growled, startling Asuka who had finally noticed his eyes. She stumbled back from him, and though he heart clenched in pain at the sight, he had more important things to worry about.

“Aniki…” Shou muttered, the only one there who truly knew those eyes. Judai clenched his fists and shoved past them.

“I don’t have _time_ for this,” he hissed, but Asuka caught his arm and yanked him back.

“What did you say about Fubuki!” she repeated firmly. Judai’s cold, gold eyes glared into fierce brown. He could rip free from her grasp easily enough, but he was tired of hurting people.

“Your dumbass brother is about to do something _monumentally_ stupid,” he hissed at her, eyes flashing. She flinched but didn’t release him/ “I need to stop him before he gets himself killed, which I can’t do unless you _let me go.”_

“I’m coming with you.” Her voice left no room for argument.

“We’re coming too,” Manjoume said, crossing his arms. Kenzan and Shou stood on either side of him, just as unmoving.

“We’re not letting you do this alone,” Shou said, Kenzan and Manjoume both nodded.

“You-” Judai grit his teeth and closed his eyes.

“ _Fine_ ,” he bit out, pulling himself out of her grasp. “But you have to _listen_ to what I say, got it?”

All four of them nodded. He sighed, rubbed his eyes, and then moved towards the garage.

“Mom’s gonna kill me for this,” he muttered, throwing open the door to reveal a cherry red Lexus. She had just bought the car a few weeks ago, and he had not been given permission to use it yet. But, this was a life-or-death emergency. She’d live. He grabbed the spare key out of its hiding place and threw open the door.

His four friends stood frozen at the mouth of the garage, gaping at the brand new vehicle, but he didn’t have time to feel amused.

“Are you coming or not?” he snapped, unlocking the car and throwing himself inside. The other scrambled to catch up, shoving aside their awe for the moment. He didn’t wait for them to fasten their seatbelts before peeling out of the garage and towards town.

“A-aniki!” Shou yelped as he was thrown into Kenzan from a sharp turn. Asuka was in front, holding tight to the panic handle by the window for dear life, while Manjoume and Kenzan gripped the backs of Judai and Asuka’s seats to keep from being tossed around like Shou.

“I’m sorry, Shou, but we’re running out of time,” Judai said as he threw the car around the corner.

They made it to Kaiba Corp’s Tokyo office in what had to be record time, and Judai didn’t bother waiting for the car to even stop before he threw it into park and bolted from it. He mindlessly tossed the keys to a valet and ran inside. The others struggled to keep up with him, and fell over themselves trying.

“Judai-sama!” the secretary yelped as the boy stormed in and up to her counter. “T-the helicopter is ready, as you ordered. But…”

She glanced at the four people following him warily but he shook his head.

“They’re with me,” he told her. His voice was colder than usual, she noted, and it worried her. “Please inform my father that I’ll have his helicopter back as soon as I can.”

“Y-yes, sir!” she said.

“Let’s go,” he told the group, who were staring at him with something akin to awe. He led them past the secretary’s desk and down the hall.

“Where exactly are we going, don?” Kenzan asked as they hurried past the communal elevators. “The elevators are that way!”

“We’re not taking those elevators,” Judai said, turning a corner and throwing open a pair of double doors. The only thing on the other side of the doors was a single elevator. There was no button next to it, but there was a fingerprint scanner. Judai pressed his thumb to it and the doors immediately opened.

“You get your own private elevator? I thought you were an intern…” Manjoume said as the followed him into the spacious lift. Judai sucked his teeth and shrugged.

“It’s not my elevator, it’s Kaiba’s. It goes straight to the helipad.”

“But why do you have access to it? I mean, Manjoume’s right…” Shou asked, fiddling with his jacket nervously. Asuka and Kenzan both stared at Judai, who kept his eyes locked on the floor meter. There was silence for the 60 seconds it took to reach the top floor, much faster than any normal elevator could move, and as the doors opened to reveal a rather ostentatious Blue Eyes themed helicopter.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Judai asked as he led them to the obnoxious transport. His next sentance threw them all for the biggest loop they could have expected.

“Kaiba Seto is my father.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand the "big" reveal. Be honest, you all saw that coming. I'm not as clever as I try to be.


	10. Bad News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They make it Duel Academy Island in one piece, but there's bad news waiting for Judai.

The flight from Kaiba Corp to Duel Academy Island was simultaneously the longest and shortest flight he’d ever experienced, Manjoume thought. And he should know, he’d been on his fair share of flights.

But none had ever been as fraught with tension as this one. Flights with his estranged brothers, before they had reconciled, were nothing compared to the palpable pressure that came with this journey. It hadn’t helped anything, either, that Judai hadn’t said a word to them since revealing he was the son of the  _ Kaiba Seto _ .

It was completely mind boggling, Judai was nothing  _ like _ Kaiba! Thinking back on their three years together, he’d never have been able to guess at all. He could concede that, physically speaking, the two were similar  _ looking _ , but that could be said of anyone with brown hair. When comparing the world-famous billionaire to Judai, though? Well, he could see they both shared an ego, at least. Or had, Judai didn’t seem to have much of one anymore. Outside of that, the two didn’t show any similarities. 

Of course, Manjoume had to admit that he didn’t actually  _ know _ Kaiba Seto… so all of this was really conjecture. But still, that didn’t stop the fact that they were, apparently, related from being any less surreal.

It didn’t help that Judai didn’t give them a chance to talk about it, or anything. He’d basically gone back to ignoring them again.

As soon as they’d gotten on the helicopter and taken off, he’d spent half of the trip up with the pilots, on the radio with whoever was overseeing Duel Academy Island. On the way to his seat once  _ that _ conversation was done, he’d whipped out his phone and started another conversation. He’d positioned himself far enough away from them, as well, that they couldn’t hear what he was saying.

The four of them exchanged glances and then looked back at him. The gold had faded from his eyes, leaving deep, but very troubled, chocolate brown behind. While he still seemed angry, based on his tight shoulders and the way he was glaring out the window as he spoke, they could tell he’d calmed down enough to thinking clearly again. 

All Manjoume was thankful for, thought, was that he wasn’t flying the helicopter. After that hellish car ride, none of them really wanted to be in another vehicle with him behind the wheel.

So while they thanked the gods that Judai wasn’t flying, they couldn’t take their eyes off of him. They watched him mutter into the phone, and listen to whoever was on the other end, and wondered what it could be about.

 

“Fujiwara Yusuke?” Judai asked, frowning. He didn’t recognise the name.

“He’s one of the missing Obelisk students,” said the voice on the other end. “Tenjoin-san has been in his room for the last two hours.”

“Doing what?”

“Searching for something, it looks like.”

“Any idea what?”

“Gotta be something small, possibly a card.”

“He hasn’t found it. Does he seem alright?”

“He’s getting frustrated.”

“And this Yusuke person?”

“Most likely involved with the same Darkness rituals Tenjoin was.”

“Great.”

“I’ll keep you updated.”

“Thanks.”

Judai hung up the phone with a sigh and shoved it in his pocket. He reached up with both hands to rub at his tired eyes. He hated admitting it, but Yubel and Daitokuji-sensei were right, he really wasn’t well enough to be dealing with this right now. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice. He had to solve this problem,  _ then _ he could rest.

“Judai,” Asuka began, and Judai looked at her. The four of them were all struck by how tired the boy looked, with pale skin and dark bags under his eyes. They hadn’t noticed before, caught up in his panic, but not it was never more obvious. 

“Duel Academy Island inbound,” the co pilot spoke, cutting in before anything could be said. “Beginning landing procedure, please secure yourselves.”

Landing didn’t take very long, and Judai was the first back on his feet when the docking door opened, with the others close behind. They didn’t expect him to stop dead halfway down the ramp, however, and collectively collided with his stiff back.

The boy didn’t react, he didn’t even flinch from the force. Manjuome had to wonder how the weight of four people falling on him hadn’t even budged Judai, but the look on Judai’s face stopped those thoughts short.

Those emotionless gold eyes were terrifying in their own right, but even they didn’t compare to whatever dark emotion was shining in his normal chocolate brown.

“Where is Chideha?” Judai asked, his voice cold enough to freeze, but eerily calm. Shou swallowed heavily, that was the voice of Haou - he’d never forget it.

The man at the bottom of the ramp, or boy, rather, looked up at Judai with an apologetic smile. The boy was of an average height, with purple eyes and olive-green hair. Something about him struck the group as odd. He seemed… out of place, somehow. But it was Judai’s apparent anger at the boy’s mere presence that caught them up to the fact that something just was not right.

“I’m sorry, Judai-kun,” the boy said. Judai’s cheek twitched and Manjoume thought he looked about ready to deck the boy.

“Chideha-san encountered Mr. T,” the boy continued, and Judai scoffed derisively. “He lost the duel, I’m sorry.”

Judai’s fist clenched. His face remained terrifyingly passive, but the way he stood, shoulders hunched and tense, back ramrod straight, belied his calm. Taking a breath, he forced himself to relax.

“I’ll be taking over as your guide.” If the boy noticed Judai’s animosity, he didn’t say anything. “My name is Fujiwara Yusuke.”

 

_ “What’s this?” Judai asked as he read down the list, recognizing none of the names aside from Chideha’s, which was at the top. _

_ “The island’s become dangerous, and any one of us could end up lost to a Duel of Darkness,” Chideha began, once again proving to Judai that he was incapable of answering questions directly. “Should something happen to me, those are the ones who get to take over babysitting you!” _

_ “You don’t have to sound so cheerful about it,” Judai groused, glaring at the grinning man. Chideha shrugged and then leaned forward to point at the name below his. _

_ “Abe Hideki will take over for me if something should happen.” _

 

“Funny, I don’t remember your name coming up before,” Judai said, deceptively composed. Inside was another story, his emotions were in turmoil and his temper was flaring again. Chideha was  _ gone _ . Judai cursed himself for growing so fond of the man in such a short amount of time, but the man’s charisma wasn’t easily ignored. And now he was gone, and Judai hadn’t been there to stop it. Destroying this dark plague was  _ his _ job, and thus far he’d failed.  _ Again _ .

He slowly finished his walk down the ramp, with his confused classmates following and looking between him and Fujiwara in concern, almost as if afraid one of them - Judai - would do something rash and impulsive. 

“Oh?” Fujiwara seemed surprised.He walked with his back to the group, leading them towards a black truck. “You must have misheard. My name follows Chideha’s on the list appointed to you.”

Judai’s frown deepened, and his eyes flashed, but the eerie calm remained and he nodded.

“Must have,” he agreed, though the tone in his voice suggested otherwise.

“Does anyone else feel like we’re watching a western stalemate, don?” Kenzan whispered to the other three out-of-the-loop students. They all nodded in response, staring at the two boys like a they were a pair of displaying cobras ready to strike.

Which, honestly, was a fair comparison.

“Where do you need to go?” Fujiwara asked. Judai ‘ _ tsk’ _ ed and crossed his arms. If Fujiwara was who he said he was, he’d know. Judai had explained the situation to Director Oshiro on the flight over, Fujiwara, if he  _ was _ meant to replace Chideha(which Judai knew full well he  _ wasn’t _ ) then he should know.

“The abandoned dorm,” he said simply, and Asuka gasped.

In the stress of their departure, and the bombshell Judai had dropped on them, they had all forgotten  _ why _ they had come. They shared shame filled glances, hardly able to believe they’d forgotten about Fubuki. Asuka felt the worst. She felt like she had let Fubuki down, somehow. She knew he’d been hurting over something recently - and not just over the migraines. However, she’d foolishly allowed herself to brush the problem aside, trusting her brother at his word that nothing was wrong. Now he was in danger, and, judging by Judai’s earlier reaction to the news of this Chideha person, his very life could be at risk. 

“Judai!” Asuka hissed, grabbing his arm. When he looked back at her he could see the raw fear in her eyes, for her brother’s safety. She’d lost him once before, she couldn’t handle losing him again. Judai gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, and, though it was as strained as any other, it got the message across. Asuka gave him a similarly strained smile and released him.

“May I ask why you need to go there?” asked Fujiwara, seemingly just curious. Judai could feel the boys building frustration, matching his own.

“No,” Judai said, ducking into the passenger’s side of the truck before anything else could be said.

Fujiwara shot the group a confused look, but none of them could really say anything. Sure, Judai was acting weirder than usual, but they had no idea why. There was that weird feeling they all got from Fujiwara, but it wasn’t enough to explain what had pissed of Judai so badly.

“He must really be upset about that Chideha person,” Shou suggested.

“We can worry about that later, we need to find Fubuki first,” Asuka said, yanking open one of the back doors and slipping in behind Judai. Shou, Kenzan, and Manjoume all looked at each other, now  _ doubly _ worried, and followed her, squeezing into the backseat beside her.

None of them noticed the way Fujiwara’s eyes grew dark, or the way his genial smile morphed into an ugly frown. He grimaced, glared at the car, and the pulled open the driver’s side door. By the time he sat down, his features had smoothed out again, leaving a passive smile behind. He threw the car into drive and headed towards the abandoned dorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to figure out how to deal with these upcoming duels orz
> 
> apologies if it takes longer than usual for me to figure this out


	11. Redemption?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few truths come to light, and it's time for Judai to learn how to lean on his friends.

Staring down the business end of a Five God Dragon, and choking on the smoke of his own destroyed monsters, was not the way Judai expected this venture to turn out. But here he was, across the field from Trueman, the entity that had been terrorizing the island. Judai had dueled against him twice already, and he was really getting sick of it.

“Focus, Judai,” Yubel said from inside him. He grit his teeth and widened his stance. This situation was the opposite of ideal. He was tired, his concentration was slipping, and he was still reeling from the duel he’d just had with Fubuki.

“How does this keep happening to me?” he whispered to himself, tightening his grip on his cards. How had he even gotten into this situation? He couldn’t really remember, everything was starting to blur together.

They had arrived at the abandoned dorm to find Fubuki… what had Fubuki been doing? He had the mask again, that  _ damn _ mask. What mask? Judai shook his head.

They had dueled, he remembered that. Judai had won, and Fubuki had regained his memories? Had he lost them? He had, he remembered Fujiwara -  _ he knew he couldn’t be trusted - _ his classmate, Fubuki’s classmate. He was dead, so who was this Fujiwara? 

_ Honest _ .

_ Live with me, within my soul. _

He had done that, hadn’t he? Honest was just scared, attacked them out of fear, Judai promised to help him. He had invited him in - he was sure Yubel was happy with  _ that _ decision. But then… Trueman…

He had to win this, he didn’t have a choice. He  _ had _ to win. For his friends, for his cards, for the souls sleeping within his own…

For his family…  he couldn’t allow Trueman to win!

“Judai!”

Judai’s eyes snapped open.

“My turn!” he called, drawing a card. One glance showed him the card he needed, and he felt his confidence swell. Placing the card in his hand, he grabbed another one and held it ready to play.

“I play the magic card, Oversoul!” he called, and the card glowed in his hand. He heard Manjoume and Asuka say something behind him, but he couldn’t focus on them now. 

“Come forth, Neos!” The grave port glowed as the cards were exchanged, and Neos materialized on the field in attack mode. He looked at the card he just drew, and grew even more determined.

“Honest, lend me your strength,” he spoke softly, to the monster. He felt something warm fill his chest, and he almost smiled. He held the card aloft, and Honest joined them, glaring at Trueman with determination and confidence. 

“I activate Honest’s special effect!” Honest spread his wings wide. “When I send Honest to the graveyard, from my hand, I can add his attack points to Neos!”

“What!?” Trueman seemed to lean back, and though Judai couldn’t see the… person’s eyes, he could tell he was getting frustrated. Judai smirked.

Honest glowed for an instant and then burst into stardust, which coalesced into Neos. Shining wings, Honest’s wings, grew from the hero’s back and Neos’ attack points raised to 7500. Light flooded the space, shining down on them all, and Trueman took a step back. Judai smirked, he could feel both Yubel and Honest’s confidence flood him.

“Go, Neos!” he cried, and the monster flung itself at the dragon. All five heads looked on in fear as the powered up Neos closed in and their echoing cry of pain as they were destroyed seemed to fill the void. The explosion that followed was intense and blinding, and Judai could barely make out the form of Trueman blowing away in a cloud of shadows and corrupted cards as his life points were reduced to zero.

A sense of relief washed over them all as the dark void faded away, revealing clear blue skies once again. Looking down at the card in his hand, Honest, he let a small smile slip through. 

“Thank you, Honest,” he said softly. He could feel Honest’s approval from within, a mutual thank you from the monster as well, and he sighed. He could hear his friends cheering in the background, but despite his relief at winning the duel, apprehension remained. Something wasn’t right, this ordeal wasn’t finished.

“Yuki Judai,” came Trueman’s disembodied voice, as though eager to prove his feelings true, “we have only witnessed a fragment of the truth. A greater darkness will soon assail this world. We will meet again.”

Neos touched down beside Judai, and they shared a look before the monster faded away. It was just as he suspected, there was more to this than just Trueman. Much,  _ much _ , more. 

Judai reached a hand up to rub at his eyes, he could feel a headache coming on. 

“So… Judai wasn’t just avoiding us,” Asuka said, lowering Fubuki to sit on the ground. She looked at the boy in question, who stood with his back to them. He looked tense… there didn’t seem to be any cheer from winning that duel, and she wondered sadly where the happy boy she once knew had gone.

“He was trying to protect you,” O’Brien said, startling the group who had forgotten he was there. “He didn’t want to involve you in his problems again.”

They watched as Judai seemed to sag. Even from behind, he looked exhausted. O’Brien stepped towards him and grabbed the boy’s elbow, somehow anticipating his inevitable collapse. Shou and Kenzan called out in surprise when Judai’s knees buckled and he fell sideways against O’Brien’s chest. The darker boy moved his hand from Judai’s arm to wrap it around the boy’s shoulder and help lever the boy gently to the ground.

Judai grunted, still mostly conscious, and leaned forward.

“They’ll be back,” he said hoarsely, and they could all hear the worry in his voice. Was this why he’d been so tired lately? Had he been fighting this threat alone, on top of everything else?

“And when they do, we’ll be here, too,” Manjoume said, coming to stand behind Judai and O’Brien. O’Brien looked at him curiously, but with approval, while Judai jerked in surprised and looked up at him in shock. Manjoume may have been hurt, or angered, before at the idea that Judai might not trust them, but after everything that had been revealed today…

Shou and Kenzan flanked Manjoume, and they all smiled at Judai. The boy looked exhausted and close to tears when they echoed Manjoume’s words. 

“Guys…” Judai mumbled, staring at them like he’d never seen them before. This… this was not the reaction he’d expected. From first revealing that Yubel was a part of him, to exposing them to the evil he’d helped drag into the world… he had expected yells and accusations. He had expected them to  _ leave _ , and he knew he would have deserved it. But now, as they stood there, determined to  _ stay _ …  _ that _ was the relief he didn’t know he needed.

“We won’t leave you to do this alone,” Shou promised.  _ Not like last time _ . He wouldn’t leave Judai alone again, he wouldn’t let his best friend be consumed by his guilt again. O’Brien grinned at him.

The others still didn’t know what had happened after they had… died. None of the ones that had been aware, Shou, O’Brien, and Jim, were saying anything. At this point, both Shou and O’Brien could say with confidence that if Manjoume, Asuka, and Kenzan were told, it wouldn’t change anything, but for the sake of Judai, who obviously still hadn’t come to terms with it, they kept quiet.

“Thank you,” Judai whispered, looking away from the group. They all shared looks, still worried, but mostly hopeful.

“Come on,” O’Brien said, helping Judai back to his feet. Judai swayed a bit, and unconsciously reached out to grab O’Brien’s arm. “We should get you and Fubuki home, you need rest.”

“I’m fine,” Judai and Fubuki both protested simultaneously, drawing snorts and laughs from their friends. Asuka gently tapped Fubuki on the back of the head, drawing a whine, and helped him to his feet as well, while O’Brien pulled Judai’s arm over his shoulder. Both of them looked ready to pass out.

“Sure you are,” Manjoume said, tugging on a lock of Judai’s hair and drawing a tired glare from the boy. Manjoume grinned at him. Judai rolled his eyes, but didn’t protest again as O’Brien started leading him towards the, thankfully undamaged, truck. It didn’t take long to get from there to the helicopter, and though the ride back to the Kaiba Corp Tokyo branch was quiet, there was finally a sense of contentment among them. 

Judai was stirred from his sleep when the helicopter landed, and when he opened his eyes he saw O’Brien and Manjoume standing in front of him. O’Brien offered him a hand up and, to the boy’s relief, Judai accepted it. 

Judai was still tired and weak, the duel with Trueman having taken more out of him than he realized, and walking had never been more difficult. O’Brien supported him as they descended from the plan, but Judai dreaded figuring out how he was going to get himself, or anyone else, home.

“I’ll take him from here,” a voice said. The group looked as one to a tall man standing a few feet away. He was dressed in a sharp gray suit, but the long black hair pulled back into a shaggy ponytail and the wide grin he wore effectively ruined any potential professional demeanor. There was worry, they could see, in his purple eyes as he gazed at Judai, but his postured screamed relaxation.

Judai’s head perked up a bit and he smiled at the sight of the man.

“Mokie-oji,” he muttered and O’Brien transferred the tired boy into the man’s arms. Instead of supporting him like O’Brien had, however, the man picked Judai up entirely. Judai grumbled in protest, but didn’t fight it.

“Mokie?” Asuka asked, looking at Fubuki, who was being supported by Kenzan.

“Mokuba,” the man said, shifting slightly as Judai pouted. “Kaiba. I’ve got rides set up for all of you, so don’t worry about getting home.”

The smile he gave them was cheerful, but they could all only stare in muted surprise. All except O’Brien, who didn’t seem to get surprised by anything. He dropped his hand on Manjoume’s shoulder, startling the boy and nodded towards the elevator. Now wasn’t the time to gape.

“R-right, thank you,” Manjoume said, bowing to the man who nodded back. He quickly shuffled towards the elevator, and the rest, after a momentary shared glanced, did the same. O’Brien ushered them into the elevator, but paused to look at Mokuba, who gave him a nod. O’Brien smiled and entered the elevator.

“Right,” Makuba said, looking down at the boy in his arms. He smiled at the sight of Judai trying not to fall asleep again, his head nodding back and forth. Mokuba would’ve laughed, but now didn’t seem like a good time for it. 

“Let’s get you home.” The elevator rose back to the roof as Mokuba approached it and by the time they descended to the bottom, Judai was fast asleep. Mokuba hummed in thought as he took a little known route towards the parking garage, and briefly debated taking Judai to his own home. He didn’t think, however, that Seto or Judai would be happy once he woke up.

With a sigh, he secured Judai into his car and started the drive to the boy’s home.  _ One  _ day Mokuba would get Seto to pull his head out of his ass, but right now he just wanted to get Judai home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is... very much a filler chapter. I spent ages trying to figure out how I wanted both the duel with Fubuki and the duel with Trueman to go, and eventually I just decided to skip most of it. Nothing would've really changed to either duel, so I didn't feel the need to draw them out.
> 
> Also apologies for the lackluster ending. To be perfectly honest, I just wanted to get this chapter out of the way altogether. I may come back and revise later on, but this is it for now.
> 
> I'll be back to my normal quality control with the next chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the first chapter is fairly short. It's more of a set up piece than actually plot relevant tbh. Don't worry, more will be coming.


End file.
